Oh T! Your bricking seems to have been done in record time. . . you must be thrilled! I bet Zen will be hanging onto these contractors.

We got a friend to put in our Cat6 cabling, so we only had to pay for the cable (got all of the cable and sockets from http://www.4cabling.com.au. . . very cheap!). . . so we went a bit crazy and I think we ended up with a fair few connections. We haven't actually hooked it up to much yet, but we have got redundant cabling to every point. . . 4 cables to the back of both TVs. . . we didn't have one put in the laundry, but I have heard that in the future we'll have our washing machines connected to the net, and they'll tell us when we need a part replacing and what it is!!! Amazing!

We terminated all of the cables in the garage (we have a big void as we're split level, which is still accessible). . . we also terminated the alarm, telephone and antenna cable there. . . on my old boss's advice). Phil wanted them in the study, but I didn't want a server cabinet in the study. Now if we actually connect the home phone, we can easily connect a landline to any room in the house. . . no nasty wifi signals (when we get round to it).

Wow!! Great work, T!!

I'm sure yours will finish faster than mine...really excited isn't it!!

T, is the whole front and garage being morokad?(I know it's not a word, but what word would it be?)
Good to see some progress, yeah those big beams need to be craned up, they are so heavy,
Things like moving the height of taps etc is easy, we had to move the position of taps so the vanities would fit, (cause you have to have a cupboard in front of the taps, not drawers) but some builders I'm sure would charge a variation, even thoug it is only a few minutes work

Gogo - yes, pretty much all of the front house and garage is being Moroka-ed (whatever!), so they are all yucky red common bricks. We have corbelling around the South-East corner but you really can't see it (done as per plans, but in hindsight we would have had it protuding a bit more). Had a momentary moment (yeah, like a real short one) on Friday that our facade is really weird (including the deliberately horizontal windows - another design feature and also request from Council - apparently horizontal lines gives a building a smaller look and the whole idea was to make our house appear recessed or less bulky from the streetscape), but I am reassured by the architect that it will all come together in the end. It certainly won't look like other houses (which will be fine if it turns out, but there is safety in known outcomes...). The beam is already up there for sliders, it is just a lintel beam or something to go on top for the bricks (or something). DH gone back on site to get them to raise the shower roses (he wants it up to 2.2m - a little high if you ask me, but he is height paranoid! He confessed last night that he has nightmare about fans, something us normal height people wouldn't have to worry about! )

jodge - thanks, I will tell DH. Sounds like your house is "wired for sound" (or whatever that song was... you know "AM, FM, I XXXXX you are, XXXXX and we're wiiiirrrrreeed for sound" - $100 to anyone who can actually work out the song I am thinking of!).

Thanks willcres! I am sure you will have good progress next week.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wired_for_Sound

Cliff Richard.

Woo hoo! Easiest $$ I ever made

Bingo Carmel!! Didn't know you were still on here btw, wikipedia is far too PC - I was looking for a YouTube link to listen to but of course they only have goodie goodie links on their page. Will go and do that now (that it is revolving around and around in my head!).

ps: just tried and was harder than I expected. Found one site but there was a notice that EMI had blocked the content for copyright reasons. Now working in copyright law myself I get it, but I just want to listen to the song this morning!! (hypocrit? probably). OK, will resign myself to wiggle wiggle wiggle (DS was loaned a "wiggle bike" yesterday - you know, where you sit low to the ground and wiggle the bars to move - yeah, I had no idea these things even existed till yesterday either. aaaannnyywwaaay, I haven't been able to get the wiggle song out of my head since. Must be because I am missing gogo).

Mine too thanks for that!

OK, getting my fix (explanation above):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLqRIowf ... re=related

Oh great...now I'm stuck with Cliff in my head for the rest of the day...have already moved on from Wired for SOund to Living Doll...

Catchy huh? Damn it!! (I feel like a fake mum with headphones on listening to wiggle. No way the kids are listening to this! ps: did you know the video is now blocked on YouTube - you have to verify being over 18 to view).

Your house is huge T.

So happy to see you are really flying on your construction. Can I ask what are size for your retaining walls and how much you pay for these walls? thanks

Wow T looking great!

Hey T wow your house sure has progressed quickly. . .It's looking great

Loretta

Thanks Loretta and greenfish.

kikichan - funny you should say our house it huge, coz it depends what you are used to. Compared to many homes being built particularly out West it is not. But for our area it sort of is, as we came within 0.5 of the maximum size for our site (we are in an area that only allows 35% of the site for house - rest must be landscaping). I was looking at it today and thinking it was just right for us, so I have taken the title "Dollshouse" out of my subject As for retaining walls - not sure of exact dimensions yet, still working out exact design (but probably about 2-3 steps high in the lawn and then sloping from garage to main road, total about 10m maybe?).

So here is the external Moroka colour we have chosen: Dulux Swampy (which will be made up in Taubmans I think). This is a concrete square which we painted with the Swampy. Randall was too grey. It is amazing how different it is in different light, and also on our site compared to backyard at the rental (even when both in Southern shade):
[ img ]

Our colour scheme is a bit unusual, but we are deliberately going for a darker, more recessive look (the idea being to make the house looks less bulky from the street and recede more into the bushy surrounds. Well, as much as a house can!).

Summary of selections:
Metal work: Woodlands Grey (windows, roof, downpipes, gutters, balustrades etc.)
Brick: Austral Slate Grey with darkened mortar
Moroka: Dulux Swampy
Garage door and privacy screens: Timber-look Decro
Front door: Custom made spotted gum

Just thinking about whether we just have standard white eaves like everyone else, or whether we should have these painted darker too? I am obsessed with trying to minimise too many colour schemes (as we will have a lot going on with our facade once we are done, thanks to the architect) so just wondering about eliminating the white... Thoughts?

Yep, I like the color you've chosen against the brick. We used to live in a house surrounded by gum trees and I loved how the colors just seemed to blend in so I'm all for that.

White will give the house a lift, however it may stand out too much if all the rest is fairly dark. How about getting something that tones in with your colors but adds a much lighter note. Don't know what to suggest though, I don't know much about colors ............ In fact I don't know why I'm even commenting so probably best to ignore me and wait for an expert

Oooh the choices, do they ever end!

Ruth

Great colours Sunshine!!!

This will blend in beautifully.

I am all for the white to give it a lift..... But if you are worried about it being too stark, add a slight tone from your wall colour????? Would this give it a slight colour?? Without being too similar??

I think your facades and garage location make me see your house is huge in compare with my house .

I know your council and our council have very strict rules for floor space ratio, build-upon-area and front setback/rear setback/side setback....Generally, I'm happy and familiar in seeing good land blocks with big garden in our area . Our land block is 763m2 on regular zone but we are only allowed to have 306m2 floor which is accounted for 40% of the site. Our front setback for patio is 11m and side setback is 2.5m ....So, if you go to see our frame in my blog, you know why I think so for your house T

kiki - just had a look at your blog. I love the kotatsu in the deck! Are you having an outdoor fireplace too? If your place is 42 squares (the Vienna 42, right?), then your place IS bigger than ours. We are 40 squares total (including decking and garage etc.). Our block is only 710 sqm, so we had a Council max FSR of 262 sqm (we are building 261.5 sqm living areas).

okjorg and Ruth - thanks for your comments. hm.. I think I need to start paying attention to eaves when I am on the road (well, in addition to the road of course!). But you know how it is, whatever stage you are up (roof, bricks, driveways, front door, letter box) these are always the things you look at and notice on other houses. There aren't many new builds in our area though, but I will still be keeping my eye out.

All colours and bricking looking good Sunshine can't wait for it to be finished for you!

Now. About these 11 brickies. Are they shirtless and why haven't we seen photos?